


An Unusual Mission

by TessaKeane



Series: KakaIru Prompts 2019 - 2020 [2]
Category: Naruto
Genre: Cooking, First Dates, Firsts, Fluff, Fujoshi Shizune, Gay, Humor, Jonin are problematic, M/M, Mentions of depressed Kakashi, Missions desk Iruka, Tsunade loves money
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-11
Updated: 2020-03-14
Packaged: 2021-02-23 11:08:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23110408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TessaKeane/pseuds/TessaKeane
Summary: #1 - Firsts:Synopsis: Iruka receives a very unusual mission – go on a date with Kakashi Hatake.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi/Umino Iruka
Series: KakaIru Prompts 2019 - 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1661089
Comments: 30
Kudos: 219
Collections: KakaIru Week 2019





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Like Kakashi I am quite late for these, but I still wanted to do them so here I am. This is Male with Male, don't like don't read or comment thank you. Hope all who read enjoy :) Happy KakaIru reading.

“Well this is a first.” Iruka admitted as he looked down at the request in front of him. 

Iruka had worked at the mission’s desk for a quite a few years by this point, but no matter how long he worked with them, he still couldn’t understand Jonin and what part of their decision making ability had been impaired by the intense training and missions they had to go through to get the title. But he had to say that this one may have taken the cake as Kurenai-sensei stood across from him waiting for his response. 

“Is that a yes or a no?” 

Iruka sighed and rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on,

“Honestly Kurenai I don’t even know where to begin,” he breathed, but apparently she wasn’t leaving without an explanation, and probably an answer, “for one thing I haven’t been on a specific mission in a good six years, so I find it odd to be given one like this. Secondarily this seems a bit personal, I’m not sure even if I did agree to it, that it would be appreciated. Thirdly, what on earth do you intend for me to do with him that the reward is this high?” Iruka questioned, “Not to mention how vaguely the mission is worded. I’m a bit surprised you came up with this to be honest, I’d have thought something from you would be better thought out, even if you did decide such a thing was necessary.”  
Kurenai clicked her tongue before responding,

“To be honest it wasn’t just me who thought this up. A number of us are in on it and I wasn’t in charge of the writing of the mission itself. But we all do agree that we think you would be the perfect candidate to help get Kakashi get out of his own head, so to speak. He’s been secretly melancholy for so long, but he acts…differently with you. I know you probably don’t enjoy all of the teasing, but he does seem genuinely pleased and not forced when he’s around you, unlike with most other people.” 

Iruka shook his head,

“I think you guys are reading too much into this. If you really want someone who understands him and he can enjoy himself around you should have Gai-sensei spend some time with him. Aren’t they best friends?”

Kurenai smiled a little, 

“That’s not exactly what we are going for and Gai-sensei is in on this as well, he thinks it should be you also, just so you know.” 

“Level with me, do you Jonin happen to drink from a different source of water than the rest of us?” Iruka questioned, only half teasing as Shizune walked over, noticing that there seemed to be a hold up.

“Is there a problem?” she asked curiously.

Iruka opened his mouth ready to respond, but Kurenai was too fast for him, deciding that since Iruka wasn’t cooperating she might as well take it to a higher power,

“I was just trying to submit this mission request, but Iruka-sensei wouldn’t give me an answer.”

Shizune took hold of the scroll in question, confused because Iruka had never refused a request before, but soon she realized why Iruka might be reluctant. Still, there was a part of her who enjoyed the thought of Iruka and Kakashi spending time together. 

“I’ll bring this to the Hokage since she decides what missions we take or not.” Shizune said without even asking questions which confused Iruka.

“But Shizune-” he began hoping he could reason with her, but deciding it wasn’t likely when Shizune walked away leaving an awkward silence between him and Kurenai. 

A few minutes later Shizune came back with the mission request with a big signed approved across the top,

“Lady Tsunade said it was too much money to pass up and to have fun.”

Iruka glared,

“This is ridiculous! I’m an Academy Teacher and Missions Desk Chunin, not a personal escort.”

Kurenai rolled her eyes,

“No one is asking you to sleep with him. Just take the mission, enjoy a nice dinner with him, and get paid a lot of money to do it. Consider how helpful the reward will be for the good of Konoha.”

Iruka glared at his alleged friend,

“I highly doubt me having an awkward dinner with Kakashi is going to greatly benefit Konoha, Kurenai.”

“Then you’re not paying close enough attention to who the most gifted ninjas are around here and who we need to be the most sane,” Kurenai retorted, “Konoha needs a sane Kakashi right now, and we think you are the key to that.” 

Iruka rolled his eyes,

“You’ve all lost it.”

“Then who better than you to help us find it?” 

“Iruka still has to finish his work for today since I don’t know of anyone that can take over at this short of a notice. We’ll get someone in for tomorrow after school so that Iruka can go on his date.” Shizune said picking up a few scrolls from Suzume who was busy focusing on her work and minding her business rather than getting involved in Iruka’s mission debate.

“You mean mission. This is not a date and if it is classified as one I will certainly have grounds to appeal this decision.” Iruka pressed. 

Shizune threw her hands up in mock surrender,

“Whatever gets the job done. Good luck either way.”

Iruka rolled his eyes at her before looking back up at Kurenai,

“Satisfied?”

“Of course, I usually am when I get my way, you know that.”

“Well since it seems I’m not getting out of this I just have one more question.”

“What’s that?”

“Why is this classified as an S ranked mission?” 

Kurenai blinked, but then chuckled,

“Because we couldn’t classify it as S and A ranks at the same time. And if anyone has national secrets in this village outside of the Hokage and Council it’s Kakashi Hatake. Judging that we have no idea how your conversations could go, we can’t exactly rule it out.”

“You are all mental.” Iruka said bluntly.

“Which is exactly why we need your help,” Kurenai said with a smile, turning towards the door and walking before adding, “I’ll send Gai with the details for tomorrow night.” 

“Please don’t.” Iruka urged, which made Kurenai laugh as she left the room.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't realize how short this was until I went to post it XD, but it's a necessary set up. Sometime between tonight and tomorrow morning the last chapter of this fic will be posted, but as tomorrow is my birthday I've decided to post the next KakaIru fic in this series (of things I should have finished in 2019) tomorrow as well. Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoy!

Contrary to Kurenai’s tease, it was not Gai-sensei who dropped off the location and time to his apartment, but rather Asuma. Iruka was very glad to avoid flowery talk of youth the night before he’d have to deal with a very questionable mission with Kakashi. Thankfully Asuma wasn’t one to tease so he simply gave Iruka the info and then headed off with his hands in his pockets. 

Iruka had been surprised that the location he was given wasn’t a restaurant, but was actually his own classroom at the academy. This confused him until he decided that it was probably just the meet up spot that he and Kakashi both knew where was and they’d likely go from there. 

The morning fairly flew by as Iruka used his responsibilities as a teacher to avoid thinking about basically being ordered to go out with Kakashi Hatake. But in the few breaks he’d had he’d realized that maybe he was the one reading into things and making things weird. Perhaps Kakashi just needed another friend, particularly a less competitive one who he could really talk things out with. Or a therapist to help him unpack his mental baggage and relax a bit so that he didn’t lose himself or go rogue.

Iruka imagined that life was probably not easy for Kakashi. He’d lost a lot of friends and family, and the latter at least, Iruka could relate to. The more he thought about it, by the end of school, the more he felt ashamed for making it a big deal when perhaps he could do some good in Kakashi’s life. Give him a sane, non Jonin friend that wouldn’t challenge him or tell him to suck it up. Someone who he could be vulnerable around, until he found that someone special that let him into their heart. 

With this in mind Iruka decided to make a bit of an effort. He really was getting paid an exorbitant amount just to help the other man out and he did feel bad for him. So Iruka planned to get some calming things to help relax the Jounin. He picked up groceries and made miso soup with eggplant, having heard that it was one of Kakashi’s favorites. Then decided to take some soothing scented candles with him: one Eucalyptus, the other Lavender, both known for helping people to de-stress. Once Iruka had all that together he packed it up with a bottle of sake and headed back to his classroom a few minutes earlier than the intended meeting time, where he set up the food and candles on the teacher’s desk after getting a chair from another classroom for Kakashi to sit on across from him. 

Two inches were down on both candles by the time Kakashi actually managed to show up and Iruka was feeling decidedly less generous by that point. Particularly when Kakashi’s excuse was that he was helping an old lady cross the street,

“For two hours, at this time at night?!” Iruka snapped.

Kakashi slid into the seat across from him as he teased,

“It was rīchi mahjong night.”

Iruka was not amused.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thus ends this fic, but not the series. Another fic will be up somewhere between tonight and tomorrow. Thanks for reading, particularly to those with kind and fun comments, bookmarks, and kudos. Hope you enjoyed it and will continue reading more about the adventures of Kakashi and Iruka. XD Enjoy!

Feeling less charitable by the time the other ninja deemed to show up, Iruka decided that just because Kakashi was obviously going through some thing did not give him the right to waste good food. He knew that technically the other hadn’t been aware of the fact that Iruka was cooking for them, but had he been on time, or even within the first half hour, it would have still been fine. Now it was questionable.

Kakashi looked down at the food in front of him curiously before questioning Iruka,

“Did you make this or order it to the Academy?” 

“I made it, though now it probably has to be thrown out since it’s been sitting here with me, waiting for hours, while you allegedly helped an old lady to mahjong at precisely the time you were supposed to meet up with me.”

“You don’t believe me?” Kakashi questioned.

“I think you’ve forgotten that I’m an Academy teacher, I know an excuse when I hear one, and quite frankly you need to work on yours if you’re going to be late to every event in your entire life.”

Kakashi looked down and the side of his mouth underneath the mask quirked up before he leaned over, pulling at his mask as if he were going to take it off.

Iruka’s face flushed with surprise before turning his head to look away. Unlike the majority of Konoha who watched and waited for the copy nin to slip up and show his face, Iruka respected the man’s privacy. He wasn’t sure why Kakashi had been about to reveal it to him, even if it was accidental, but he suspected perhaps the candle scent wafting in the air had made the copy nin a little too relaxed. He hoped for Konoha’s sake that enemy nin didn’t try the same thing if that was the case. 

“You’re not going to look?” Kakashi questioned gently, his voice sounding amused as Iruka glared at the wall as if it were the other male.

“No thank you, I’m neither interested in prying into things you’d rather people not see, nor do I want to be hounded by Naruto and the rest of Konoha when it spreads that I’ve seen what’s behind the mask. Even you probably have no idea how often people try to unmask you or catch a glimpse of ‘what’s underneath the underneath’.”

“I have some idea,” Kakashi said, taking his fingers and gently turning Iruka’s head to face him, before letting go in case Iruka took a swing at him, “but you’re not prying if I offer. You can look at me Iruka-sensei.”

Iruka sucked in a big breath, before taking his own spoon and quickly filling his mouth with food to make sure he didn’t say anything strange. But after a gulp and Kakashi letting go of his face he couldn’t help but blurt, “Wow” anyway.

Kakashi smirked, wearing his mask on his neck for a few more seconds, before taking pity on Iruka, and feeling paranoid in case someone passing by might see it, he put it back on as Iruka added, 

“You ate everything off of your plate even though it was very cold,” as if it had been the reason for his previous exclamation.

“Well it is one of my favorite meals after all. Interesting that you remembered.”

Iruka frowned at him, starting to get his sense of control back now that Kakashi’s mask was back in place. Suddenly, he was very grateful for that mask and decided it should  
actually be illegal for the man to take it off until he was old enough to not look that good. He still had no idea why Kakashi had no problem with him seeing it, but maybe it was because Iruka hadn’t obsessed over it. Unfortunately, after actually seeing it he felt he just might in the future after all. It certainly wasn’t leaving his memory without some major work and he didn’t think it would be fair to Kakashi if Inoichi saw his face just to extract it from him. He sighed, only a few minutes with the copy nin and things were already this complicated.

“I’ll have you know that I have a fairly good memory. I may not be able to copy every jitsu I’ve ever seen, but I think I can handle most people I know’s favorite food.”

Kakashi fake pouted,

“Are you trying to say I’m not special?”

“Oh no you’re quite special. I think you know that considering your friends put so much effort into this whole thing.”

“You mean into setting us up?”

Iruka paused. Could it be that Kakashi didn’t know that this dinner was orchestrated by his friends? He didn’t remember anything in the missions report about keeping the  
situation a secret and frankly Kakashi seemed happier and less stressed than most adults he knew, at least at the moment. He bit his lip wondering if Kakashi would become upset or be embarrassed by it. Would he be hurt? Had his friends lied to him about what this was all about in the first place? Would he be angry at Iruka for accepting the mission?

Worried, Iruka took a few more bites of his dinner and took a shot of sake, before wiping his mouth, looking Kakashi in the eye, and admitting,

“A bunch of your Jonin friends put together this rendezvous. They all chipped in and made it a mission that I meet up with you and talk. Didn’t they tell you?”

Kakashi frowned,

“Not that I can remember, but I do tend to tune most people out a lot to be honest,” the Jonin started tenting his fingers together, “did they pick you specifically or were you the one who answered the call?”

Iruka wasn’t sure what the odd look Kakashi was giving him, but as he hadn’t flipped his desk or started yelling or crying he figured the other man was taking it just fine. He decided to continue being truthful,

“They said it had to be me. I’m not sure why, though I know even Gai signed off on it in the end. Surely there is someone more qualified than I am to assist you in feeling better. You can’t imagine how surprised I was when I got the mission in the first place. It’s been years since I-” 

“F#(^.” Kakashi cursed causing Iruka’s eyes to widen at the abrupt use of foul language.

“I was going to say took a mission, but okay that too.”

“Sorry, no that’s not what I meant.” The Jonin said suddenly looking a bit panicked. 

“Kakashi are you okay?” Iruka questioned, wondering if he had said too much. He should have known that no one was so shameless that they would be comfortable with such a public set up, as if Kakashi were some sort of charity case, and Iruka was a little irate about it himself, now that he thought about it, “You have every right to be upset. If you want to stop here tonight and go tear them a new one you go right ahead. In fact, if it wouldn’t embarrass you too much I could join, even help. I don’t even care about losing the money.”

Kakashi shook his head,

“It’s not that, to be honest what they did was rather kind actually and I’d go on a hundred missions with you quite happily. The problem is if they figured it out, which means I must have been too obvious. I just hope that this information doesn’t spread outside of Konoha to my enemies.”

“What information?” Iruka questioned, getting more and more puzzled by Kakashi’s rambling. 

“The fact that I’m attracted to you, of course.” Kakashi commented as he tried to calculate the likelihood of ninja outside of Konoha figuring it out.

Iruka dropped his spoon at that, eyes widening in shock,

“You…you’re what?” the Sensei stammered.

“Attracted to you, find you interesting, would like to pursue you with romantic intent as long as it doesn’t inconvenience you,” Kakashi explained calmly, somehow not sounding patronizing despite the rewording, “I don’t know how they figured it out so quickly. I’ll have to do some reconnaissance on this first chance I get, but for now I don’t want to waste such a great opportunity. Speaking of which, I did choose your classroom as a meeting location to put you at ease and help you to feel safe in your environment, but I was not aware of the fact that you’d provide the food.”

Iruka still couldn’t get over his blatant, nonchalant admission to liking him, but Kakashi seemed to have glossed right over it as if it were an obvious answer to a test question,

“I…you..” Iruka began, but Kakashi continued.

“I thoroughly enjoyed the meal of course, but now I feel somewhat indebted to you. It really should have been my job to procure food. Perhaps I can pay for the groceries?  
Provide you with an additional meal at some point? Is there somewhere besides a restaurant that you would like to go? Preferably somewhere normally out of your price range.”

Iruka couldn’t believe Kakashi’s eerily rational statements right after the bomb he’d dropped on him. He pushed his plate away and watched as the other man practically talked to himself while fretting. He had no idea why Kakashi had become interested in him all of a sudden. 

“I’ll never get Jonin.” He said aloud to himself.

“Well you can get this one if you’d like,” Kakashi teased with a wink, before continuing, “if you’d like to travel we could eat in a different village, but we’d probably have to go in disguise so that no enemy nin figure it out.”

Iruka shook his head at Kakashi, but couldn’t keep himself from laughing at that. The whole situation was completely out of left field and Kakashi had adapted way too easily,

“You really are nuts,” Iruka said, but his smile was warm, “but I can honestly say this isn’t the worst date I’ve ever had.”

“Don’t you mean mission?” Kakashi pressed, eyes looking hopeful.

“It’s definitely not the worst mission I’ve had either.”

The two of them looked at each other for a few seconds, before Kakashi asked,

“So, will you accept a second mission from my friends by any chance?”

Iruka shook his head, getting up and starting to clean up,

“No.”

The academy sensei blew out the candle and Kakashi got up to help clean off the table, not looking Iruka in the eyes, his whole demeanor clearly disappointed despite trying  
to mask it, with more than fabric, as he said, “I understand.”

Once that was done Iruka smiled at the copy nin and added,

“But if you ever want to ask me yourself that would be a different story.”

Kakashi blinked, looking over at the other man to make sure he wasn’t imagining it or anything. Iruka smiled at him amused,

“What? I told you it wasn’t the worst date I’ve ever had didn’t I? I think it might be worth a shot.”

“But…but what about the dangers? As happy as I am that you’re willing to give it a shot I have to warn you if we’re found out you may become a target. Are you sure you’re  
okay with that?”

Iruka walked closer to Kakashi before whispering into the copy nin’s ear,

“I’ve always had a bit of a rebellious streak.”

He backed off a bit before adding, 

“Danger doesn’t scare me much, if it did I wouldn’t be a ninja or a sensei for that matter. So bring it on Kakashi, if you dare.”

With that Iruka slipped out of the classroom leaving Kakashi to have to catch up with him to walk him home.

~ 

The next day Lady Tsunade was in an amazing mood as Kurenai and company paid up for the mission, also supplying a huge bonus. Iruka’s bank account pretty much quadrupled in one day. Normally he’d be angry about it, particularly when rumors around what he did to earn such a bonus began circulating around the mission’s desk, but he was in a surprisingly good mood instead. There was a first time for everything after all. 

Iruka couldn’t wait for more firsts with Kakashi and in the end, despite his perpetual lateness, Kakashi didn’t keep him waiting for too long.


End file.
